HVAC systems are commonly known in the art and are used in a variety of commercial, industrial, and residential applications. One example of such a system is the refrigeration systems used by commercial establishments such as grocery stores.
As these systems have increased in complexity and scale, troubleshooting has become more difficult. This difficulty is compounded by the fact that in some climate systems, such as refrigeration systems, troubleshooting operational problems may be very time sensitive. For example, if there is a loss of cooling in a refrigeration system and the temperature of stored food rises above a certain level, the stored food must be discarded. Such a loss is costly for the commercial establishment.
Troubleshooting climate systems is typically performed on a job site by a technician or through a remote call-in service center that services multiple climate systems. Monitoring systems often operate around the clock everyday. Operators monitoring climate systems must diagnose fault detections quickly and provide a rapid response to customers. As the number of systems monitored increases, the likelihood of different systems simultaneously requiring fault detection and diagnosis also increases. Such a situation strains the capacity of monitoring systems and may result in delayed diagnosis. There is a need for a diagnostic method and system that will increase the efficiency and speed of troubleshooting climate systems.